Hey guys,
I'm leaving in the morning for Port-au-Prince. There is about a 10 hour drive ahead of us provided nothing goes wrong.
Then on Monday afternoon I fly out of Port back to the States. Please pray for traveling safety both on the drive and on the flight.
Thanks for keeping up with my blog during my time in Haiti. I hope you enjoyed the blog posts!
I will probably post some pictures of my time here when I get back home. The internet here is not conducive to that.
Thanks again for reading and for the prayers!
- Elessar
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
08.12.2010 - Thursday
Warning: This is a lengthy post with little to do with "what I did" since my last post. It has more to do with the ramblings of my mind. Don't say you weren't warned. . . .
****
Well, I went from writing in my journal every night to going several days between writing. Well, at least I kept it up for a few weeks. Better then nothing.
Truelove's came over on Saturday. We had cashew chicken, just like I said in my last entry. It was good, just as expected. :)They stayed for about 2 hours and then headed home. We had some unexpected visitors come around 4:00 or 4:30 that afternoon. They were doing a VBS I think. . . can't remember where though. They were just coming back from the beach at Mole and thought they would swing by. I think there was some problem with their computer working with their printer or something and they wanted to get a driver downloaded for it. Anyways, we showed them the hospital and talked with them for a while. There were some people from Texas and some people from Mississippi and a bunch of Haitians. I'm afraid I don't know much more then that. Lol
Sunday provided another unexpected surprise. Hmmm. . . is there such a thing as an “expected surprise”? Just a thought. Anyways, there were a couple of white people in church and one of them preached. I finally got to hear a sermon I understood. It was a fine sermon, for an American church. Unfortunately a lot of what he said would have been difficult to understand to a Haitian. I think his translator did a fairly good job of making it understandable. We visited with the whites after church in the church courtyard. They are from Florida. They asked a lot about what we were doing, how our work was going, etc. I'm noticing I'm saying “we”, as if this work here was part of my own calling. I've really done nothing to speak of here, besides just help out, so I don't think I can say “we” in any proper sense. At the same time, however, this is where God called me this summer, so in a sense it IS my work. But really I'm just sharing temporarily in the work that God has called Steve and Faith to. I guess this would be a good time to interject some discussion on the state of the church as it is and how Americans perceive it.
Invariably, when there are visitors here or when Steve and Faith are back in the States visiting, someone will ask the missionary's favorite question. “How many converts do you have?” There are several problems with that question. The first and most obvious is “how do you know when someone is converted?” A conversion is solely between an individual and God. To ask a human being to judge how many people he thinks have truly come to know Christ is at best as silly question and at worst an idiotic one. When the heart of man is deceitfully wicked, it's hard enough to judge your own heart. Asking one to judge the heart of others is simply inane. The question becomes all the more problematic when one considers the ministry that Steve and Faith have. The hospital here provides health care, and free health care when an individual cannot pay. The hospital is a very large part of their work here. If they were to share the Gospel with each individual that came into the hospital, they would assuredly receive large amounts of converts. And while some of those converts might truly believe, a vast majority would be simply trying to please the doctor/missionary/white man. “Oh, you think I should convert? Of course I'll convert!” The problem does not end there either. Each one that “converted” at the missionary's request would feel assured that they were in fact Christians. After all, the missionary said so and was pleased with their decision. But if that conversion does nothing to change the heart or the life of an individual, how can we call that a true conversion (judging, fallibly, based on what Scripture says should happen upon an individual receiving the Spirit of Christ)? And if it is not a true conversion, and yet these people are positive they have been saved because the missionary said so, then is not the missionary to fault for giving that false hope? There can be nothing worse then to wrongly convince someone that they have received Christ and in so doing condemn them to hell.
So that is the first and perhaps worst problem with asking the inane question “how many converts do you have?” at least in Haiti. The second issue that comes up is the fact that nearly everyone in Haiti knows the Gospel. Sure, the exact theology is likely not quite straight, but the basic facts of the Gospel are really quite simple. You are a sinner; God can't stand sinners in His presence; He loved us enough to sacrifice His son that through Christ's blood we might be sanctified; all one has to do is accept that sacrifice and Christ's lordship in their lives. Unlike America, where you might find people on any street corner that have never heard the Gospel, Haiti is (at least according to the missionaries I'm with) largely evangelized. The churches here (of which there are many) constantly evangelize. There is no need for the white man to come and share the Gospel, as the Gospel has already been shared. What remains for the missionary to do is what Christ calls us to do in the Great Commission. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations. . .” That word “teach” there literally means to enroll as a scholar, or to disciple people. Steve and Faith are here, not to “preach” the Gospel – that has already been done – but to set an example of what the Christian life should look like, to encourage their fellow believers, and to disciple people as best they can. “Converts” are not what God is looking for. He is not looking for numbers, he is looking for heart change and people that seek Him with a passion, bringing glory to His name. Steve and Faith could instantly gain hundreds of converts were they to ask each person coming into their hospital if they would like to receive Christ.
So, the question of “how many converts” is an incorrect one. Better to ask “are you seeing heart changes in the hearts of the people you are working with?” “Is the lifestyle of the average Haitian you see everyday becoming more and more a reflection of Christ?” Those are the better questions to ask, because those are questions that can be better answered. Those are the questions that reflect the work and the calling of many missionaries. Those are the questions concerning what God is interested in.
Okay, off my soap box for now. I'm sure I will return to that at some point.
I wanted to write a bit about what God's done in my life during my time here. I'm half way through my last week in Haiti. I'm leaving for Port-Au-Prince on Sunday and will fly out on Monday. I was thinking about being back home and trying to answer all the questions people would have. I know a question that my parents will want answered is “what did God show you?” or something to that affect. I thought it might be good to start pulling all my scattered thoughts and impressions from God together and writing them down. So. . . here goes.
First and foremost, I think that God has revealed a lot of pride and arrogance in my life to me. I know that is a cliché answer, and one I have used many times, but it seems that I have a lot of pride and arrogance. :p Let me detail what I mean. I've discovered that the world does in fact not revolve around me. Yes, I know. . . shocking. I was fooled for a long time too, so don't feel bad if you thought the same thing. ;) In all seriousness, though, it feel that once again God has shown me His greatness and my insignificance. As an American, I tend to place a lot of emphasis on patriotism, what I can do for God, what glorious things God is going to have me do, and I take for granted all the little blessings He bestows on me. What I am beginning to discover is that God seems to have His own plans and I seem to rather get in the way of them in my pride. I think that Chambers says it rather well, so I'll quote him.
There is so much said today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God's compelling that is brought out. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at. At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God's purpose is - “I am meant to go here or there,” “God has called me to do this special work”; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big compelling of God. “He took unto Him the twelve,” He takes us all the time. There is more then we have got at as yet. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 3: The Big Compelling of God.
My proud mind struggles to grasp the concept that perhaps God isn't so concerned with what I do so much as He is concerned with how I do it. It's not the amount of converts I have, the amount of money I raise to give to the poor, or the amount of time I spend in His Word that concerns God. It is simply my devotion to Him. It is, quite frankly, the “broken and contrite heart” that God loves because He is then free to mold it to His higher purpose. One has to be careful not to be vain in imagining that purpose to be glorious and magnificent. Saints are often called to do the dirtiest, most mundane, unforgiving, terrible, and unrewarding jobs imaginable. But that should not concern us, because God has compelled us to do such a thing, and we should be quite satisfied in knowing that we are in the center of His will. During my time here, I've had time to contemplate the work that the Leach's are doing here. To many churches, mission boards, etc., they've done little more then keep a hospital running. They have no converts to speak of, no glorious numbers to report; they are simply doing what God has compelled them to do. Regardless of how things turn out, whether they appear good or evil, I must always follow my God.
Then there is the issue of forgiveness, friendship, and love. I'm afraid I've rather failed at this in some aspects of my life back home, and God is trying to use (and I seem rather resistant) a young fellow here by the name of Isaiah (ez-aye-ee) to point that out. :p Again, let me quote from Chambers before I talk about it.
The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way – if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 30: The Discipline of Disillusionment.
God has been quite persistent in pointing out that I demand far too much out of the people I know while loving them far too little. Well, in all honestly, I love them out of the goodness and depth of my heart, which is so pitifully small that I might as well not love them at all. This little Haitian fellow, a lad of perhaps twelve years, quickly developed into the most annoying brat I've ever met. . . if I was to demand of him every perfection and every rectitude. The thing that first got me thinking about who Isaiah really represented was the quote by C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” To realize that each human you come in contact with is a immortal is quite beyond the comprehension of my poor little brain. Isaiah, in human eyes, is a needy, annoying, self-centered, egotistic, whining, and complaining child. Okay. . . that might not be totally fair. He has his good moments. Give me a while and I'll think of one. Ah, he generally has a smile on his face, is quite eager to please (often to get what he wants though. :p). . . yeah, I'll have to work on that more. But the point is, Isaiah is an not a mortal creature. He will be either an immortal horror or an everlasting splendor. I must admit that this boggles my mind while at the same time opening up an entirely different view of who he is. I must first remember that he is a fallen creature, prone to faults, to error, to sin, to selfishness. . . just like myself. Then I must remember that Christ died for all the world . . . for him, just as He did for me. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Who is my neighbor? Perhaps a better question would be “who is not my neighbor?”
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. - Matthew 5:43-48.
Gotta love how Christ throws in the last kicker there. It's not “so try harder to love the chaps around you”, it's “so straighten up and be perfect”. I looked up that word “perfect”, thinking perhaps that it didn't actually mean “perfect” and that I would be off the hook. No such luck. “Perfect (teleiov): complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.)”. So, regardless of how one treats me, I am to love that person. Seems like a despairing task to take on, seeing as how I'm a fallen creature myself.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:2-5.
So perfectness comes from being tried. “When through fiery trials / thy pathway shall lie / My grace all sufficient / shall be thy supply / the flames shall not hurt thee / I only design / thy dross to consume / and thy gold to refine.” God is ever seeking to refine us, to perfect us, to draw us closer to Him, closer to the center of His will, closer to companionship and perfectness in Him. Once again, I defer to Chambers.
Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly.Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right. “Now, says the Spirit, through St. James,“let your endurance be a finished product.” Watch the slipshod bits - “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 31: Til You Are Entirely His.
I apologize if my thoughts are a bit scattered. I've written quite a bit tonight – more then I usually do. Perhaps I should pick up again tomorrow.
Anyways, I suppose that second point that I am trying to get at is God is showing me that I ought to love a good many people that I do not. How that love is played out is another matter entirely, and one which I am sure God will see fit to pound into my head in the not-so-distant future. God give me grace, patience, and wisdom.
****
Well, I went from writing in my journal every night to going several days between writing. Well, at least I kept it up for a few weeks. Better then nothing.
Truelove's came over on Saturday. We had cashew chicken, just like I said in my last entry. It was good, just as expected. :)They stayed for about 2 hours and then headed home. We had some unexpected visitors come around 4:00 or 4:30 that afternoon. They were doing a VBS I think. . . can't remember where though. They were just coming back from the beach at Mole and thought they would swing by. I think there was some problem with their computer working with their printer or something and they wanted to get a driver downloaded for it. Anyways, we showed them the hospital and talked with them for a while. There were some people from Texas and some people from Mississippi and a bunch of Haitians. I'm afraid I don't know much more then that. Lol
Sunday provided another unexpected surprise. Hmmm. . . is there such a thing as an “expected surprise”? Just a thought. Anyways, there were a couple of white people in church and one of them preached. I finally got to hear a sermon I understood. It was a fine sermon, for an American church. Unfortunately a lot of what he said would have been difficult to understand to a Haitian. I think his translator did a fairly good job of making it understandable. We visited with the whites after church in the church courtyard. They are from Florida. They asked a lot about what we were doing, how our work was going, etc. I'm noticing I'm saying “we”, as if this work here was part of my own calling. I've really done nothing to speak of here, besides just help out, so I don't think I can say “we” in any proper sense. At the same time, however, this is where God called me this summer, so in a sense it IS my work. But really I'm just sharing temporarily in the work that God has called Steve and Faith to. I guess this would be a good time to interject some discussion on the state of the church as it is and how Americans perceive it.
Invariably, when there are visitors here or when Steve and Faith are back in the States visiting, someone will ask the missionary's favorite question. “How many converts do you have?” There are several problems with that question. The first and most obvious is “how do you know when someone is converted?” A conversion is solely between an individual and God. To ask a human being to judge how many people he thinks have truly come to know Christ is at best as silly question and at worst an idiotic one. When the heart of man is deceitfully wicked, it's hard enough to judge your own heart. Asking one to judge the heart of others is simply inane. The question becomes all the more problematic when one considers the ministry that Steve and Faith have. The hospital here provides health care, and free health care when an individual cannot pay. The hospital is a very large part of their work here. If they were to share the Gospel with each individual that came into the hospital, they would assuredly receive large amounts of converts. And while some of those converts might truly believe, a vast majority would be simply trying to please the doctor/missionary/white man. “Oh, you think I should convert? Of course I'll convert!” The problem does not end there either. Each one that “converted” at the missionary's request would feel assured that they were in fact Christians. After all, the missionary said so and was pleased with their decision. But if that conversion does nothing to change the heart or the life of an individual, how can we call that a true conversion (judging, fallibly, based on what Scripture says should happen upon an individual receiving the Spirit of Christ)? And if it is not a true conversion, and yet these people are positive they have been saved because the missionary said so, then is not the missionary to fault for giving that false hope? There can be nothing worse then to wrongly convince someone that they have received Christ and in so doing condemn them to hell.
So that is the first and perhaps worst problem with asking the inane question “how many converts do you have?” at least in Haiti. The second issue that comes up is the fact that nearly everyone in Haiti knows the Gospel. Sure, the exact theology is likely not quite straight, but the basic facts of the Gospel are really quite simple. You are a sinner; God can't stand sinners in His presence; He loved us enough to sacrifice His son that through Christ's blood we might be sanctified; all one has to do is accept that sacrifice and Christ's lordship in their lives. Unlike America, where you might find people on any street corner that have never heard the Gospel, Haiti is (at least according to the missionaries I'm with) largely evangelized. The churches here (of which there are many) constantly evangelize. There is no need for the white man to come and share the Gospel, as the Gospel has already been shared. What remains for the missionary to do is what Christ calls us to do in the Great Commission. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations. . .” That word “teach” there literally means to enroll as a scholar, or to disciple people. Steve and Faith are here, not to “preach” the Gospel – that has already been done – but to set an example of what the Christian life should look like, to encourage their fellow believers, and to disciple people as best they can. “Converts” are not what God is looking for. He is not looking for numbers, he is looking for heart change and people that seek Him with a passion, bringing glory to His name. Steve and Faith could instantly gain hundreds of converts were they to ask each person coming into their hospital if they would like to receive Christ.
So, the question of “how many converts” is an incorrect one. Better to ask “are you seeing heart changes in the hearts of the people you are working with?” “Is the lifestyle of the average Haitian you see everyday becoming more and more a reflection of Christ?” Those are the better questions to ask, because those are questions that can be better answered. Those are the questions that reflect the work and the calling of many missionaries. Those are the questions concerning what God is interested in.
Okay, off my soap box for now. I'm sure I will return to that at some point.
I wanted to write a bit about what God's done in my life during my time here. I'm half way through my last week in Haiti. I'm leaving for Port-Au-Prince on Sunday and will fly out on Monday. I was thinking about being back home and trying to answer all the questions people would have. I know a question that my parents will want answered is “what did God show you?” or something to that affect. I thought it might be good to start pulling all my scattered thoughts and impressions from God together and writing them down. So. . . here goes.
First and foremost, I think that God has revealed a lot of pride and arrogance in my life to me. I know that is a cliché answer, and one I have used many times, but it seems that I have a lot of pride and arrogance. :p Let me detail what I mean. I've discovered that the world does in fact not revolve around me. Yes, I know. . . shocking. I was fooled for a long time too, so don't feel bad if you thought the same thing. ;) In all seriousness, though, it feel that once again God has shown me His greatness and my insignificance. As an American, I tend to place a lot of emphasis on patriotism, what I can do for God, what glorious things God is going to have me do, and I take for granted all the little blessings He bestows on me. What I am beginning to discover is that God seems to have His own plans and I seem to rather get in the way of them in my pride. I think that Chambers says it rather well, so I'll quote him.
There is so much said today about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God's compelling that is brought out. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God's purpose, we are taken up into God's purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God's aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at. At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God's purpose is - “I am meant to go here or there,” “God has called me to do this special work”; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big compelling of God. “He took unto Him the twelve,” He takes us all the time. There is more then we have got at as yet. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 3: The Big Compelling of God.
My proud mind struggles to grasp the concept that perhaps God isn't so concerned with what I do so much as He is concerned with how I do it. It's not the amount of converts I have, the amount of money I raise to give to the poor, or the amount of time I spend in His Word that concerns God. It is simply my devotion to Him. It is, quite frankly, the “broken and contrite heart” that God loves because He is then free to mold it to His higher purpose. One has to be careful not to be vain in imagining that purpose to be glorious and magnificent. Saints are often called to do the dirtiest, most mundane, unforgiving, terrible, and unrewarding jobs imaginable. But that should not concern us, because God has compelled us to do such a thing, and we should be quite satisfied in knowing that we are in the center of His will. During my time here, I've had time to contemplate the work that the Leach's are doing here. To many churches, mission boards, etc., they've done little more then keep a hospital running. They have no converts to speak of, no glorious numbers to report; they are simply doing what God has compelled them to do. Regardless of how things turn out, whether they appear good or evil, I must always follow my God.
Then there is the issue of forgiveness, friendship, and love. I'm afraid I've rather failed at this in some aspects of my life back home, and God is trying to use (and I seem rather resistant) a young fellow here by the name of Isaiah (ez-aye-ee) to point that out. :p Again, let me quote from Chambers before I talk about it.
The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way – if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 30: The Discipline of Disillusionment.
God has been quite persistent in pointing out that I demand far too much out of the people I know while loving them far too little. Well, in all honestly, I love them out of the goodness and depth of my heart, which is so pitifully small that I might as well not love them at all. This little Haitian fellow, a lad of perhaps twelve years, quickly developed into the most annoying brat I've ever met. . . if I was to demand of him every perfection and every rectitude. The thing that first got me thinking about who Isaiah really represented was the quote by C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” To realize that each human you come in contact with is a immortal is quite beyond the comprehension of my poor little brain. Isaiah, in human eyes, is a needy, annoying, self-centered, egotistic, whining, and complaining child. Okay. . . that might not be totally fair. He has his good moments. Give me a while and I'll think of one. Ah, he generally has a smile on his face, is quite eager to please (often to get what he wants though. :p). . . yeah, I'll have to work on that more. But the point is, Isaiah is an not a mortal creature. He will be either an immortal horror or an everlasting splendor. I must admit that this boggles my mind while at the same time opening up an entirely different view of who he is. I must first remember that he is a fallen creature, prone to faults, to error, to sin, to selfishness. . . just like myself. Then I must remember that Christ died for all the world . . . for him, just as He did for me. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Who is my neighbor? Perhaps a better question would be “who is not my neighbor?”
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. - Matthew 5:43-48.
Gotta love how Christ throws in the last kicker there. It's not “so try harder to love the chaps around you”, it's “so straighten up and be perfect”. I looked up that word “perfect”, thinking perhaps that it didn't actually mean “perfect” and that I would be off the hook. No such luck. “Perfect (teleiov): complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.)”. So, regardless of how one treats me, I am to love that person. Seems like a despairing task to take on, seeing as how I'm a fallen creature myself.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. - James 1:2-5.
So perfectness comes from being tried. “When through fiery trials / thy pathway shall lie / My grace all sufficient / shall be thy supply / the flames shall not hurt thee / I only design / thy dross to consume / and thy gold to refine.” God is ever seeking to refine us, to perfect us, to draw us closer to Him, closer to the center of His will, closer to companionship and perfectness in Him. Once again, I defer to Chambers.
Many of us are all right in the main, but there are some domains in which we are slovenly. It is not a question of sin, but of the remnants of the carnal life which are apt to make us slovenly.Ultimately God will let nothing escape, every detail is under His scrutiny. In numberless ways God will bring us back to the same point over and over again. He never tires of bringing us to the one point until we learn the lesson, because He is producing the finished product. God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right. “Now, says the Spirit, through St. James,“let your endurance be a finished product.” Watch the slipshod bits - “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it is, God will point it out with persistence until we are entirely His. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 31: Til You Are Entirely His.
I apologize if my thoughts are a bit scattered. I've written quite a bit tonight – more then I usually do. Perhaps I should pick up again tomorrow.
Anyways, I suppose that second point that I am trying to get at is God is showing me that I ought to love a good many people that I do not. How that love is played out is another matter entirely, and one which I am sure God will see fit to pound into my head in the not-so-distant future. God give me grace, patience, and wisdom.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
08.07.2010 - Saturday
Thursday night was pizza night, as always. We normally have coke with our pizza, but I elected to have something else. When Grace and I went to Madame Kamouest's house to get coke, I switched out two cokes for something called Fruit Champagne. It's got an interesting taste which I strangely like. No one else that I'm staying with likes it at all, and I've even been mocked for liking it. :-D This means one important thing. No one else will touch my drink! Yes, yes, I know I'm devious. Well, the fact remains that I like it more then coke, so there ya go. I've never been a big fan of coke, although I'll definitely drink it, especially on these hot days when anything cold and carbonated tastes good.
We watched A Beautiful Mind Thursday night. There are a few things in the movie that are iffy (as far as sexual innuendo goes), but there is very little language that I remember and a wonderful story. It's basically about a fellow that has a incredibly bright mind. . . too bright. I think one of my favorite ideas in the movie is the dedication that he and his wife show one another. I cried at the end. :j
I worked most of the day Friday in one of the medical supply depots with Grace and Betsy. Inventory and organizing the meds was the name of the game. Of course, organization is something I love, so although it was ridiculously hot and dusty in the depot, I enjoyed myself rather more then I would have doing anything else. After we finished in the depot in the afternoon, I came back up to the house and played four games of basketball with some of the Haitian boys and Grace. That was fun, although my ankle still isn't quite better and there is one young chap that makes me want to scream sometimes. :p
We watched about half of The Two Towers last night before we all got a bit too tired to stay awake. I'm hoping to get all the way through The Return of the King before I leave for the States. Hard to believe that I'm about to enter my last week here. Got to finish studying for my American History CLEP test and finish organizing the library. And that's in addition to whatever else needs to be done here before the trip into Port-Au-Prince occurs. Hopefully it won't get TOO stressful till right before we leave. Lol
The Truelove's are coming over here shortly for lunch. We are having cashew chicken. :-D sings yummy yummy yummy I've got love in my tummy. . .
I think that about covers everything. Maybe I'll write more later tonight. Hope my ankle starts feeling better soon. I even wrapped it with vet-wrap before I played ball yesterday.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
08.05.2010 - Thursday
Well, I guess I decided to take a break from journaling.
I'm not sure I remember much of the weekend. I know that a team building a church out by George and Carol Ann Truelove's place came by here on their way to the beach and visited with us for a while. It was led by Doug Fritz, a College of the Ozarks alumni and a Sedalia, MO, resident. Small world. I wonder if the T-s know him. A nephew of Faith's was also on the team. He hadn't told the Leach's he was coming because he wanted to surprise them. I guess he accomplished that. :)
I believe I was fairly grumpy on Saturday evening, so I went and laid down about 6:30 in the evening, skipping a movie (part of the John Adams' series) and dessert. I didn't fall asleep until 8:00 or so and woke up feeling somewhat better around 6:30.
I have been studying/meditating/puzzling through/memorizing/writing on Romans 8. Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible, due largely in part to the intellectual writing that it contains. The end of Romans 8 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. “Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, or height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So far I've filled 2.25 sheets of paper front and back with my thoughts and meanderings on chapter 8, and I'm only in verse 17. I should have roughly 5 sheets of paper completely filled by the time I'm done if I keep it up. Sadly, it's been a rather long time since I've really studied the Bible. I find myself drawn to it, though.
One thing that I was never too awfully interested in was history. . . until this trip. I am studying American History for the CLEP test, and am finding it absolutely fascinating. Steve is an excellent resource to turn to if I have a question that needs answering. If he doesn't have the answer off the top of his head, he can usually find a book that contains some reference to my question. I have made it through the American Revolution and through the presidencies of Washington and Adams into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. As I go through this CLEP book, I am making slides in powerpoint so that I might be more easily able to study the important things. I'm not sure that I will ever actually go back through the slides in any in depth manner, but actually making them requires a good deal of involvement and understanding of the text. I basically summarize sections of the text in my own words, and doing so means that I'm given the passage more then a cursory glance.
Basically, all this week has been nearly the same. I study History in the morning and for several hours of the afternoon. Sometime during the day I'll spend a while working on organizing the library/office. That's pretty much the gist of what I've been doing. :) Went to Madame Kamouest’s house yesterday on the 4-wheeler with Grace to get coke for pizza night (which is tonight). I finally drove the 4-wheeler, which was pretty fun. :) Played basketball last night and finally met my match on the courts. Everybody I've played with so far has apparently not had much experience playing ball, although they all understand the concept and the rules quite well. With my height, I've been able to either intimidate or dominate when playing. Can't do much against someone that can hold the ball in his hand higher then you can jump. :) Well, yesterday a fellow came over that nobody had ever seen. He was fairly well built (meaning his arms were twice the size of mine) and he knew how to play. I don't really know how to play, I just have a height advantage that I use as much as I can. I could easily out jump this fellow, but he knew how to shoot above my jumps and how to control the ball very well. While he was cocky in his ability to play ball, and rightly so, he was also very gracious and apologized profusely for any foul or silly mistake he made. He was also the first Haitian I've seen that enforced double dribbling and traveling rules, even to his own detriment. Basically, even though he was cocky and showy in his game, he was also a good sportsman. I enjoyed playing with him.
I did hurt myself somewhat while playing ball though. My ankle wasn't hurting anymore so I thought I'd play on it. It started to hurt again about half way through my last game. Also, at one point I jumped to slap a ball away from the good ballplayer and managed to slip as I came down. I landed on my side and scraped up my thigh and calf pretty bad. Guess that's the cost of having a good time. :)
Tuesday night, we watched the last installment of the John Adams' series. It's okay, and having been studying that time period, it is interesting. Not quite enough action for me though. :) Speaking of action, Monday night we found a tarantula in the bathtub and one in the kitchen. With their leg span factored in, they were about 4-5 inches across. Pretty awesome and thoroughly disgusting. We killed both. Last night, sitting on the porch on the van bench, Betsy discovered that she had two tarantulas on her – one on her leg and the other on her shoulder. Seeing her go into hysterics was quite humorous, although I know if the same thing was to happen to me I would do the same thing. They were about 3 inches across each.
Okay, I should probably start studying. I just wanted to get caught up before it went longer then a week between journal entries and I started forgetting things. Oh! Speaking of forgetting stuff. . . The night sky right now is pretty cool. About a week ago, Mars and Saturn were the closest they would be in the night sky for the year of 2010. They appeared to be about an inch apart, if that somehow makes sense. Mars and Saturn are right next to each other, and then several inches below them is the very bright planet Venus. About the time those planets are setting, Jupiter rises from the opposite direction. Mars, Saturn, and Venus are in the west and Jupiter rises in the east. Okay, now I'm done. :)
I'm not sure I remember much of the weekend. I know that a team building a church out by George and Carol Ann Truelove's place came by here on their way to the beach and visited with us for a while. It was led by Doug Fritz, a College of the Ozarks alumni and a Sedalia, MO, resident. Small world. I wonder if the T-s know him. A nephew of Faith's was also on the team. He hadn't told the Leach's he was coming because he wanted to surprise them. I guess he accomplished that. :)
I believe I was fairly grumpy on Saturday evening, so I went and laid down about 6:30 in the evening, skipping a movie (part of the John Adams' series) and dessert. I didn't fall asleep until 8:00 or so and woke up feeling somewhat better around 6:30.
I have been studying/meditating/puzzling through/memorizing/writing on Romans 8. Romans is one of my favorite books of the Bible, due largely in part to the intellectual writing that it contains. The end of Romans 8 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. “Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, or height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So far I've filled 2.25 sheets of paper front and back with my thoughts and meanderings on chapter 8, and I'm only in verse 17. I should have roughly 5 sheets of paper completely filled by the time I'm done if I keep it up. Sadly, it's been a rather long time since I've really studied the Bible. I find myself drawn to it, though.
One thing that I was never too awfully interested in was history. . . until this trip. I am studying American History for the CLEP test, and am finding it absolutely fascinating. Steve is an excellent resource to turn to if I have a question that needs answering. If he doesn't have the answer off the top of his head, he can usually find a book that contains some reference to my question. I have made it through the American Revolution and through the presidencies of Washington and Adams into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. As I go through this CLEP book, I am making slides in powerpoint so that I might be more easily able to study the important things. I'm not sure that I will ever actually go back through the slides in any in depth manner, but actually making them requires a good deal of involvement and understanding of the text. I basically summarize sections of the text in my own words, and doing so means that I'm given the passage more then a cursory glance.
Basically, all this week has been nearly the same. I study History in the morning and for several hours of the afternoon. Sometime during the day I'll spend a while working on organizing the library/office. That's pretty much the gist of what I've been doing. :) Went to Madame Kamouest’s house yesterday on the 4-wheeler with Grace to get coke for pizza night (which is tonight). I finally drove the 4-wheeler, which was pretty fun. :) Played basketball last night and finally met my match on the courts. Everybody I've played with so far has apparently not had much experience playing ball, although they all understand the concept and the rules quite well. With my height, I've been able to either intimidate or dominate when playing. Can't do much against someone that can hold the ball in his hand higher then you can jump. :) Well, yesterday a fellow came over that nobody had ever seen. He was fairly well built (meaning his arms were twice the size of mine) and he knew how to play. I don't really know how to play, I just have a height advantage that I use as much as I can. I could easily out jump this fellow, but he knew how to shoot above my jumps and how to control the ball very well. While he was cocky in his ability to play ball, and rightly so, he was also very gracious and apologized profusely for any foul or silly mistake he made. He was also the first Haitian I've seen that enforced double dribbling and traveling rules, even to his own detriment. Basically, even though he was cocky and showy in his game, he was also a good sportsman. I enjoyed playing with him.
I did hurt myself somewhat while playing ball though. My ankle wasn't hurting anymore so I thought I'd play on it. It started to hurt again about half way through my last game. Also, at one point I jumped to slap a ball away from the good ballplayer and managed to slip as I came down. I landed on my side and scraped up my thigh and calf pretty bad. Guess that's the cost of having a good time. :)
Tuesday night, we watched the last installment of the John Adams' series. It's okay, and having been studying that time period, it is interesting. Not quite enough action for me though. :) Speaking of action, Monday night we found a tarantula in the bathtub and one in the kitchen. With their leg span factored in, they were about 4-5 inches across. Pretty awesome and thoroughly disgusting. We killed both. Last night, sitting on the porch on the van bench, Betsy discovered that she had two tarantulas on her – one on her leg and the other on her shoulder. Seeing her go into hysterics was quite humorous, although I know if the same thing was to happen to me I would do the same thing. They were about 3 inches across each.
Okay, I should probably start studying. I just wanted to get caught up before it went longer then a week between journal entries and I started forgetting things. Oh! Speaking of forgetting stuff. . . The night sky right now is pretty cool. About a week ago, Mars and Saturn were the closest they would be in the night sky for the year of 2010. They appeared to be about an inch apart, if that somehow makes sense. Mars and Saturn are right next to each other, and then several inches below them is the very bright planet Venus. About the time those planets are setting, Jupiter rises from the opposite direction. Mars, Saturn, and Venus are in the west and Jupiter rises in the east. Okay, now I'm done. :)
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Catching up and Gran Torino.
Well, I journal-failed. I pretty much haven't really journaled in a few days, since the last time was yesterday morning attempting to describe the day before. Lol
Basically, I've not felt good the last few days. Just had a headache and a bit of a stomachache. Perhaps I'm not drinking enough fluids. I'd love for it to be something as simple as that. I'm feeling better now then I have been, but I still have a headache. Add to that the fact that yesterday morning I sprained my ankle falling off the back porch while bringing breakfast to one of Steve's workers, and I'm pretty much a mess. Ankle is feeling a bit better now, but still sore and tender to walk on. I basically wake up feeling “eh”, and then get better during the day, peaking around 7:00PM at night and rapidly going downhill. So right about now, I'm not feeling too dandy.
I finished all the computers today. I did a total of 9 over the past week or so. I have a 10-page report detailing all the changes I made to each computer on my computer and on Faith's computer. Sometime before I leave, we'll go over the report and see if she wants me to change anything and make sure she understands it all. I also have a spreadsheet on both of our computers that details each computer, the serial and product numbers, who the computer is 'registered' to, and anti-Virus info. That's basically been my work the last week or so. I've enjoyed it, and gotten quite a bit faster with each computer as I've gone along. Switching between three different operating systems is a bit confusing at times though, I will say.
Watched Gran Torino last night. Interesting movie. A LOT of language, in an attempt to accurately depict gangs. And in the end, Clint Eastwood (the hero of the movie) sacrifices his life to save his friends, doing so in a rather Christ-like manner. For all the good of the movie and its accurate depictions of real life, however, I am not too sure about it. I did not feel particularly edified by it, and I don't know if I would have felt comfortable watching it with Jesus sitting next to me. I guess it's something along the lines of “how much bad do you put up with to find the good?” I realize that Jesus hung out with former prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners. He was at once in the world and at once not of it. If, in our lives, we are called to minister to what might be termed unsavory characters, then so be it. In fact, I would almost guarantee that most people that are Christians will find that ministering to the lost and delving into the dark, ugly, nastiness of this fallen world is quite necessary to fulfill the Great Commission's requirement of making disciples. But there is a difference, to me, of doing what is quite necessary in making disciples and watching a movie for mere entertainment purposes. Other reasons for watching it might be made, but I truly cannot think of any at this moment. It is one thing to hear language and see filthy things because of where Christ has called me and what He has told me to do. It is quite another to subject myself willingly to hearing that same language and violence in a film meant for entertainment. Even if that film, at the end, has a good message. Does the end justify the means?
I'm not much of a movie person, I guess. They generally don't leave me feeling very edified. Now, there are some movies which I enjoy watching for entertainment, and I don't believe that God means us to be stuck up prunes who never crack a smile. How to Train a Dragon was a fun film, as was Race to Witch Mountain. Lord of the Rings is an incredible story, and movies like Sergeant York are quite edifying. Why can we not have quality entertainment and good messages without all the junk? Now, I realize some messages would be difficult to get across without portraying the ugly nastiness that is this fallen world . . . and to that predicament, I have no answer.
I would like to point out that I don't think movies are inherently bad nor that people who watch movies with language/violence/etc in them are sinning. That, I think, is a choice that has to be made between that person and God, made as God directs and the Spirit convicts. I do, however, think that to fill your mind with entertainment without thinking about it is a horrible idea. There is a message to every article of media, and to not think through that message and be careful you are not being influenced by the world unknowingly is a rather poor testimony to Christ. Paul says that because we are not under the Law (Mosaic) of the Old Testament but rather under Grace, there is now no condemnation and we are free to choose that which we will. He also warns us that since we have that choice, it'd be a decent idea to not abuse it and to do those things which would honor God and love our fellowman.
Okay, off that tirade. Everybody watched a couple of episodes of MASH tonight except me. Viewing that movie left me with a non-desire for movies and entertainment for tonight, anyways.
Had a lovely talk with Steve this morning. It started to POUR rain around 3:30 this morning and didn't stop till 5:30. It was amazing. I got up around 5:30 and read my Bible and prayed for a bit. 6:30 or so, Steve and I started talking. We talked about Old Testament history, Early Church history, and other questions that I had from reading and thinking about Romans 8. I finished that conversation feeling quite encouraged. :)
Okay, I'm about to drop, and I've written a decent amount tonight. Time to go take a shower and hit the sack. At least I get to sleep in tomorrow. Yay for Saturday's!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
07.27.2010 - Tuesday
This day has so far been just like yesterday. Worked on computers this morning, finishing up another laptop by 2:00. Then went back up to the house and worked on American History until the girls decided they wanted to go down and check their emails and facebooks. I'm down at the clinic with them right now, doing the same. So yeah, pretty much a flat-line day so far. No plans for tonight either.
*****
The end.
Oh, and apparently I got a day behind in my journal. I had the correct "day of the week", but not the correct number. I was calling Tuesday the "26th" in my journal, and had been incorrect for a week I guess. Apparently I corrected that mistake when I copied and pasted into the blog, cause I don't see any problems with my posts.
*****
The end.
Oh, and apparently I got a day behind in my journal. I had the correct "day of the week", but not the correct number. I was calling Tuesday the "26th" in my journal, and had been incorrect for a week I guess. Apparently I corrected that mistake when I copied and pasted into the blog, cause I don't see any problems with my posts.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
07.26.2010 - Monday
Apparently I forgot to journal yesterday.
Church was. . . incomprehensible once again. Something about me not being able to speak or hear Creole very well. I think he started out in Romans 8, so I decided to read it for myself and do some thought-writing on it. I got through 3 verses in the time he finished his sermon. I take a long time to think about stuff, apparently. *thinks deep thoughts*
Went down and facebooked/blogged/emailed in the early afternoon. Played some cards with Grace and Betsy after I got back up to the house. And now to the fun part of the day. . .
Steve let Grace, Betsy, and I take the four-wheeler up to some Haitian place that I can’t spell. haha. There is a lovely view up there. We parked the four wheeler at a church and then took a 10 minute walk up to the top of the hill/mountain. From there, you can see a couple miles of coast and several miles of coastal plains and low hills. Very pretty, and even more so as the sun starts to set. We stayed until the sun dipped below one of the larger mountains and then returned back to our vehicle.
When we got to the church and jumped off the 4-wheeler, we were instantly surrounded by several little kids who decided they were going to be our best buddies and walk us up the hill and stay there the whole time with us. There were maybe 6-8 young girls around 7-11 years old (my best guess, anyways. Lol) and a young fellow who mainly sat off the side and watched. Grace and Betsy (who know far more Creole then I do) spent some time singing songs with them (like Father Abraham and Head 'n' Shoulders, Knees and Toes). I finally decided to have some fun myself and started giving the girls rides on my shoulders and back. At one point, I had a girl on my back and a girl in each arm. I think they enjoyed it, or at least thought I was funny. Oh, and I did handstands for them too, and attempted to yodel. . . it came out more like a loud, high, and warbling scream. That rather frightened one of the girls. She jumped several feet into the air. :-D
After we got back to the house, we ate a late dinner and then listened to a Matt Chandler sermon that I had with me called Forgetting and Striving. It's a fairly good sermon, I think. :) I've listened to it several times, and always brought something new away. I wish we had time to go through his series on the Cross of Christ. It's absolutely phenomenal. Maybe I can convince them to listen to a couple of sermons every week for the next three weeks. At least the first one in the series, since I think that one is incredible.
7:00PM
The rest of last night was a bit different. I had a lot of lower back pain for some reason, and the pain was shooting down my leg into my big toe on my right foot. I know that sounds weird, but it happens to me. Has for years. I can remember being 10 years old and going down in the middle of the night to my parents room crying because my toe hurt so much. I think that was more from growing pains, whereas this was from tight muscles and vertebrae problems.
God worked on me last night. . . I'm really not sure what He was working on, I just know I got a bit humbled and cried for a while. I don't mind not knowing though, so long as I know He's working and I'm letting Him. :j
Today was a decent day, except for the lower back pain I still have. Worked all till about 3:00 on the computers down at the hospital. I think I have three laptops, half a netbook, and a desktop back up left to do. I should take it slow or I'll run out of work! :) I'm sure they'll find something more for me to do though. After I finished one of the netbooks and realized that all the other computers were in use, I came back up to the house and studied for my American History CLEP test for a while. Got through the early colonization period with my flashcards that I'm making. Tomorrow I will probably start on the Colonial Period.
After I finished studying, I laid down and took a nice nap before getting up to play basketball. It doesn't take too long when Grace, Betsy, and I go out to play for a bunch of Haitian kids to come out of the wood works. I played a game with two other Haitian teenagers. It was the two of them versus me, and I ended up winning. I think the Haitian young people that we play with think I play college basketball back in the States. They were insisting to Grace that I must. It's not that I'm very good, cause I'm not, it's just that I'm taller then all of them by a good bit and so can out jump and out rebound all of them. Match me against someone my height and I'm sunk. Lol
Here in a little bit we are going to watch the second disc of the Fellowship of the Ring. Looking forward to that. Then hopefully a decent night's sleep. **crosses fingers**
Church was. . . incomprehensible once again. Something about me not being able to speak or hear Creole very well. I think he started out in Romans 8, so I decided to read it for myself and do some thought-writing on it. I got through 3 verses in the time he finished his sermon. I take a long time to think about stuff, apparently. *thinks deep thoughts*
Went down and facebooked/blogged/emailed in the early afternoon. Played some cards with Grace and Betsy after I got back up to the house. And now to the fun part of the day. . .
Steve let Grace, Betsy, and I take the four-wheeler up to some Haitian place that I can’t spell. haha. There is a lovely view up there. We parked the four wheeler at a church and then took a 10 minute walk up to the top of the hill/mountain. From there, you can see a couple miles of coast and several miles of coastal plains and low hills. Very pretty, and even more so as the sun starts to set. We stayed until the sun dipped below one of the larger mountains and then returned back to our vehicle.
When we got to the church and jumped off the 4-wheeler, we were instantly surrounded by several little kids who decided they were going to be our best buddies and walk us up the hill and stay there the whole time with us. There were maybe 6-8 young girls around 7-11 years old (my best guess, anyways. Lol) and a young fellow who mainly sat off the side and watched. Grace and Betsy (who know far more Creole then I do) spent some time singing songs with them (like Father Abraham and Head 'n' Shoulders, Knees and Toes). I finally decided to have some fun myself and started giving the girls rides on my shoulders and back. At one point, I had a girl on my back and a girl in each arm. I think they enjoyed it, or at least thought I was funny. Oh, and I did handstands for them too, and attempted to yodel. . . it came out more like a loud, high, and warbling scream. That rather frightened one of the girls. She jumped several feet into the air. :-D
After we got back to the house, we ate a late dinner and then listened to a Matt Chandler sermon that I had with me called Forgetting and Striving. It's a fairly good sermon, I think. :) I've listened to it several times, and always brought something new away. I wish we had time to go through his series on the Cross of Christ. It's absolutely phenomenal. Maybe I can convince them to listen to a couple of sermons every week for the next three weeks. At least the first one in the series, since I think that one is incredible.
7:00PM
The rest of last night was a bit different. I had a lot of lower back pain for some reason, and the pain was shooting down my leg into my big toe on my right foot. I know that sounds weird, but it happens to me. Has for years. I can remember being 10 years old and going down in the middle of the night to my parents room crying because my toe hurt so much. I think that was more from growing pains, whereas this was from tight muscles and vertebrae problems.
God worked on me last night. . . I'm really not sure what He was working on, I just know I got a bit humbled and cried for a while. I don't mind not knowing though, so long as I know He's working and I'm letting Him. :j
Today was a decent day, except for the lower back pain I still have. Worked all till about 3:00 on the computers down at the hospital. I think I have three laptops, half a netbook, and a desktop back up left to do. I should take it slow or I'll run out of work! :) I'm sure they'll find something more for me to do though. After I finished one of the netbooks and realized that all the other computers were in use, I came back up to the house and studied for my American History CLEP test for a while. Got through the early colonization period with my flashcards that I'm making. Tomorrow I will probably start on the Colonial Period.
After I finished studying, I laid down and took a nice nap before getting up to play basketball. It doesn't take too long when Grace, Betsy, and I go out to play for a bunch of Haitian kids to come out of the wood works. I played a game with two other Haitian teenagers. It was the two of them versus me, and I ended up winning. I think the Haitian young people that we play with think I play college basketball back in the States. They were insisting to Grace that I must. It's not that I'm very good, cause I'm not, it's just that I'm taller then all of them by a good bit and so can out jump and out rebound all of them. Match me against someone my height and I'm sunk. Lol
Here in a little bit we are going to watch the second disc of the Fellowship of the Ring. Looking forward to that. Then hopefully a decent night's sleep. **crosses fingers**
Sunday, July 25, 2010
07.24.2010 - Saturday
Wow. I think the days are starting to roll by faster or something. Or maybe it's just that I'm at the end of a week, and the weeks roll by quicker for me. Monday marks the half-way point of my being in Haiti. It will be three weeks that I've been here. After tomorrow's church service, I only have two more to sit through. That makes it sound like I don't enjoy the services. Hmm. . . I do and I don't. Sitting in the hard wooden pew for a couple of hours and listening to a lot of stuff I can't understand is a bit trying at times. On the other hand, just knowing that Christ is being preached and being able to sit and study my Bible for over an hour is nice.
Weekends are nice, since we really don't 'do' anything. Not normal things, anyways. Weekdays (LOL I'm listening to this donkey that's outside and who is braying like Chuck Norris is after him. Quite hilarious, and quite loud) are more structured and orderly as far as what happens, when it happens, etc. Weekends are just kind of free for all days, where breakfast could be served quite late and dinner eaten early. In fact, that's generally what happens.
I spent about 6 hours today at the clinic working on computer maintenance. It's slow going, since I'm working primarily with Windows Vista right now, and I know nothing about that. Each computer is also different as far as what comes already installed on it and what it might need. I figure since I'm here that I might as well do thorough work on all of them, so I'm taking my time. Two laptops are complete after nearly 10 hours of work and two more are about half way. The two I'm working on right now are the desktop and one of the netbooks. I'd like to reinstall Windows XP on the net book, but it doesn't have a recovery partition or a CD as far as I know. Besides the fact that I don't have an external drive to use anyways. I suppose I'll ask Faith about the CD tomorrow and use the CD/DVD drive from the desktop if I need to. The net books are both refurbished, and I'm thinking perhaps they didn't come with CD's. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. :)
Watched the first disc of The Fellowship of the Ring tonight. Good movie. It's been a good solid year since I've seen them, as my brother took them (since he owns them) when he moved out-of-state to go to school. I remember now why I love those movies so much! They are just phenomenal. I played quite a bit of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) Lord of the Rings Online the past 6 months, and it was really super cool to be able to imagine where the hobbits were as they moved through the Shire and to Bree-town. I can remember standing on Weathertop in-game and looking out over the landscape. Imagining Strider and the Hobbits running through that area was easy. Then when Arwen (Glorfindel in the books) takes Frodo from the Wild (which I think is in the Lone-lands or in the Trollshaws. . . ) to Rivendell, and crosses the Brunien River at the Fords of Brunien, I could easily imagine that place. Anyways, having played the game and recently read some of the book, it made the movie definitely come to life for me.
After we got through the second disc, Steve checked the battery power and discovered that is was on 11% or something. We'll watch the second disc tomorrow night probably, since we've finished the Truth Project.
Okay, time to shower and get to bed somewhat early tonight. Oh! I trimmed by beard by a substantial amount tonight. It was about an inch long, and it's now about a ¼ inch. I still need to trim up around the edges, but I'll do that after my shower. Steve was gracious enough to lend me his trimmer. It only had once length setting, or I would have kept my beard a bit longer, but I can't complain. It feels better then the bushiness it was before. I have a cowlick below my jawline on the right side, and sometimes it looks rather annoying. :p
Weekends are nice, since we really don't 'do' anything. Not normal things, anyways. Weekdays (LOL I'm listening to this donkey that's outside and who is braying like Chuck Norris is after him. Quite hilarious, and quite loud) are more structured and orderly as far as what happens, when it happens, etc. Weekends are just kind of free for all days, where breakfast could be served quite late and dinner eaten early. In fact, that's generally what happens.
I spent about 6 hours today at the clinic working on computer maintenance. It's slow going, since I'm working primarily with Windows Vista right now, and I know nothing about that. Each computer is also different as far as what comes already installed on it and what it might need. I figure since I'm here that I might as well do thorough work on all of them, so I'm taking my time. Two laptops are complete after nearly 10 hours of work and two more are about half way. The two I'm working on right now are the desktop and one of the netbooks. I'd like to reinstall Windows XP on the net book, but it doesn't have a recovery partition or a CD as far as I know. Besides the fact that I don't have an external drive to use anyways. I suppose I'll ask Faith about the CD tomorrow and use the CD/DVD drive from the desktop if I need to. The net books are both refurbished, and I'm thinking perhaps they didn't come with CD's. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. :)
Watched the first disc of The Fellowship of the Ring tonight. Good movie. It's been a good solid year since I've seen them, as my brother took them (since he owns them) when he moved out-of-state to go to school. I remember now why I love those movies so much! They are just phenomenal. I played quite a bit of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (mmorpg) Lord of the Rings Online the past 6 months, and it was really super cool to be able to imagine where the hobbits were as they moved through the Shire and to Bree-town. I can remember standing on Weathertop in-game and looking out over the landscape. Imagining Strider and the Hobbits running through that area was easy. Then when Arwen (Glorfindel in the books) takes Frodo from the Wild (which I think is in the Lone-lands or in the Trollshaws. . . ) to Rivendell, and crosses the Brunien River at the Fords of Brunien, I could easily imagine that place. Anyways, having played the game and recently read some of the book, it made the movie definitely come to life for me.
After we got through the second disc, Steve checked the battery power and discovered that is was on 11% or something. We'll watch the second disc tomorrow night probably, since we've finished the Truth Project.
Okay, time to shower and get to bed somewhat early tonight. Oh! I trimmed by beard by a substantial amount tonight. It was about an inch long, and it's now about a ¼ inch. I still need to trim up around the edges, but I'll do that after my shower. Steve was gracious enough to lend me his trimmer. It only had once length setting, or I would have kept my beard a bit longer, but I can't complain. It feels better then the bushiness it was before. I have a cowlick below my jawline on the right side, and sometimes it looks rather annoying. :p
Saturday, July 24, 2010
07.23.2010 - Friday
Went down to the clinic again this morning before breakfast. I have kind of gotten into a habit of doing so. I enjoy checking my email and facebook and just having some quiet time to start the day. I will say that I probably won't do that tomorrow morning though, as I'm ready for a day of not getting up quite as early.
After breakfast, Faith asked me if I could do maintainance on every computer that the Leach's or the Hospital owns. She basically wants me to do a spreadsheet containing information such as make, model, OS, product number, serial number, and Trend Anti-Virus information of each computer. Then she also wants me to make sure Trend is up to date, the computers are defragged, and that there are not unnecessary things running on it. It's kind of a challenge for me. :) I did two laptops today, recording the initial boot up speed, how many processes were running on start up, and what sort of maintainence I did on them. There are three computers I also will back up to an external drive. I'm keeping a Word document that details everything I am doing to each computer (and an explanation if needed) so that after I am gone, it will be (hopefully) fairly easy to see if I did something that needs reversing. On one laptop, I decreased boot up time from over two minutes to exactly one minute. It's amazing what a little work can do. :-D
That's basically all I did all day. Tomorrow I'll go back and keep working on them. They'll be all super fast and awesome after I get done with them! I hope. . .
We were going to watch The Fellowship of the Ring tonight, but it rained for quite a while today, and the projector takes a lot of power to run. We decided to watch a romantic comedy called Blast From The Past. . . it was...interesting. I fear I'm being corrupted by these movie hungry missionaries. :p I will say that the movie did an excellent job of promoting the old ideas of chivalry, manners, proper behavior, etc. It was quite nice.
I need to borrow Steve's facial hair trimmer at some point, because my beard is growing a bit long. It would be nice to get it trimmed up and looking a bit better.
Read the story Beauty and the Beast tonight out loud to the family. It was from The Book of Virtues. I like story-telling, although I know I need to work a lot on annunciation and slowing stuff down.
I am enduring my second round of poison oak. I seem to attract it. I'm using a topical cream to treat the itchiness and calm it down a bit. It's helping some, although at times it still itches like crazy. Scratching it is bad though, since the oil spreads easily if you break the surface of the rash.
I tried blogging today, but it was giving me fits yet again. The problem I'd been having was that when I copied and pasted from my journal, it would either give me a META problem or the text would be the same color as the background of the blog. The META problem I took care of by copying and pasting to a Google Doc and then copying and pasting it from there to the blog. The background problem I took care of my putting up a new template with a different background color. But now the text color is a problem again. Oh well. I'll work on that more tomorrow while I'm waiting for a laptop to finish running a test or something.
Speaking of tests, I took one of my three American History (pre-1877) CLEP practice exams. I haven't studied much except up to the time of the American Revolution. I got 45/120 right, which equals approximately 51 on the CLEP score, or barely passing. Hopefully with some more studying, I can bring that up a bit.
After breakfast, Faith asked me if I could do maintainance on every computer that the Leach's or the Hospital owns. She basically wants me to do a spreadsheet containing information such as make, model, OS, product number, serial number, and Trend Anti-Virus information of each computer. Then she also wants me to make sure Trend is up to date, the computers are defragged, and that there are not unnecessary things running on it. It's kind of a challenge for me. :) I did two laptops today, recording the initial boot up speed, how many processes were running on start up, and what sort of maintainence I did on them. There are three computers I also will back up to an external drive. I'm keeping a Word document that details everything I am doing to each computer (and an explanation if needed) so that after I am gone, it will be (hopefully) fairly easy to see if I did something that needs reversing. On one laptop, I decreased boot up time from over two minutes to exactly one minute. It's amazing what a little work can do. :-D
That's basically all I did all day. Tomorrow I'll go back and keep working on them. They'll be all super fast and awesome after I get done with them! I hope. . .
We were going to watch The Fellowship of the Ring tonight, but it rained for quite a while today, and the projector takes a lot of power to run. We decided to watch a romantic comedy called Blast From The Past. . . it was...interesting. I fear I'm being corrupted by these movie hungry missionaries. :p I will say that the movie did an excellent job of promoting the old ideas of chivalry, manners, proper behavior, etc. It was quite nice.
I need to borrow Steve's facial hair trimmer at some point, because my beard is growing a bit long. It would be nice to get it trimmed up and looking a bit better.
Read the story Beauty and the Beast tonight out loud to the family. It was from The Book of Virtues. I like story-telling, although I know I need to work a lot on annunciation and slowing stuff down.
I am enduring my second round of poison oak. I seem to attract it. I'm using a topical cream to treat the itchiness and calm it down a bit. It's helping some, although at times it still itches like crazy. Scratching it is bad though, since the oil spreads easily if you break the surface of the rash.
I tried blogging today, but it was giving me fits yet again. The problem I'd been having was that when I copied and pasted from my journal, it would either give me a META problem or the text would be the same color as the background of the blog. The META problem I took care of by copying and pasting to a Google Doc and then copying and pasting it from there to the blog. The background problem I took care of my putting up a new template with a different background color. But now the text color is a problem again. Oh well. I'll work on that more tomorrow while I'm waiting for a laptop to finish running a test or something.
Speaking of tests, I took one of my three American History (pre-1877) CLEP practice exams. I haven't studied much except up to the time of the American Revolution. I got 45/120 right, which equals approximately 51 on the CLEP score, or barely passing. Hopefully with some more studying, I can bring that up a bit.
07.22.2010 - Thursday
I'm pretty tired, so I think this will be short. The Wilson's left today, and the house feels rather empty now. Having half as many people around the dinner table seemed rather weird. I didn't do a whole lot today. No clinic work at all, although I did go down for about 20 minutes to check my facebook and email with my iPod. I did study for the American History (Pre-1877) CLEP test though. That will be my focus now. I'm hoping to take that when I get back from Haiti.
So yeah, other then that, not a lot when on today. Played basketball tonight with Grace and Betsy and some Haitian boys. Grace got proposed to (not an unusual thing around here. Lol). We had baked ravioli (yummmmm) and left over pizza for dinner. We were going to watch a movie tonight, but decided to wait till tomorrow. There was a bit of a lightening storm going on outside, so all of us ended up going and sitting on the porch (on the van bench that serves as the outdoor patio couch, haha) and talking for well over an hour. That was a blast. :)
It's been raining here a LOT for the time of year it is. Steve is loving it. It rained almost all last night and a some tonight too. I think it's done for tonight though.
I didn't sleep very good last night, for some rather annoying reason. I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and never really got much continuous sleep after that. Every 45 minutes or so I would wake up. Finally just got up around 5:30. Which means I'm tired now. So. . .off to bed I go.
So yeah, other then that, not a lot when on today. Played basketball tonight with Grace and Betsy and some Haitian boys. Grace got proposed to (not an unusual thing around here. Lol). We had baked ravioli (yummmmm) and left over pizza for dinner. We were going to watch a movie tonight, but decided to wait till tomorrow. There was a bit of a lightening storm going on outside, so all of us ended up going and sitting on the porch (on the van bench that serves as the outdoor patio couch, haha) and talking for well over an hour. That was a blast. :)
It's been raining here a LOT for the time of year it is. Steve is loving it. It rained almost all last night and a some tonight too. I think it's done for tonight though.
I didn't sleep very good last night, for some rather annoying reason. I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and never really got much continuous sleep after that. Every 45 minutes or so I would wake up. Finally just got up around 5:30. Which means I'm tired now. So. . .off to bed I go.
07.21.2010 - Wednesday
Sitting down to write tonight, I find my mind strangely blank on what happened today. :p
I sat in on consultations with Scott again today, for the last time. Tomorrow, the Wilson's leave at 11:00 in the morning. They have a 2:00 flight out of Mole. Nothing too exciting happened today. Fellow came in that had a catheter. . . had a HIV+ patient, but that's not too unusual.
***********
11:45PM
It's raining, lightening, and thundering outside right now. There is a nice, cool breeze flowing through the window. In short, it's awesome. :) The Leach's are expressing amazement at the fact that it has been raining so much, as we are at the very end of the rainy season, and there is generally not this much rain. I love it, except for the mud. :p
After consultations were finished in the afternoon, Grace, Betsy, and I went back up to the house and watched The Epitome of Hyperbole by Brian Regan. Great comedian. :) After we watched the whole thing, we also listened to four audio clips of him that I had on my iPod that weren't on the show we watched. I think most people enjoyed him. :)
We had the Catholic Sisters over for dinner today. Woohoo for pizza and coke!! :-D And then peanut butter and . . . I can't remember the other type of cookie that was made. . . but we had those for dessert. :)
After the sisters left, a few of us started discussing stories that we grew up with, and I found that many stories I remembered came from a book called The Book of Virtues. The Leach's and the Wilson's both seemed to know some of the stories also. We found the book in the Leach's library and I read two stories out of it outloud. By the time I made it through the first one, St. George and the Dragon, the entirety of both families had gathered in the dining room/living room and were listening. After that tale, I also read How Much Land Does a Man Need?, which I was shocked to discover was written by Leo Tolstoy. We will definitely have to read more out of that book before I leave. :-D
Mafia, Hearts, and Dutch Blitz filled out the rest of the night, and now I think it's time for bed. Good night, all! :-D
I sat in on consultations with Scott again today, for the last time. Tomorrow, the Wilson's leave at 11:00 in the morning. They have a 2:00 flight out of Mole. Nothing too exciting happened today. Fellow came in that had a catheter. . . had a HIV+ patient, but that's not too unusual.
***********
11:45PM
It's raining, lightening, and thundering outside right now. There is a nice, cool breeze flowing through the window. In short, it's awesome. :) The Leach's are expressing amazement at the fact that it has been raining so much, as we are at the very end of the rainy season, and there is generally not this much rain. I love it, except for the mud. :p
After consultations were finished in the afternoon, Grace, Betsy, and I went back up to the house and watched The Epitome of Hyperbole by Brian Regan. Great comedian. :) After we watched the whole thing, we also listened to four audio clips of him that I had on my iPod that weren't on the show we watched. I think most people enjoyed him. :)
We had the Catholic Sisters over for dinner today. Woohoo for pizza and coke!! :-D And then peanut butter and . . . I can't remember the other type of cookie that was made. . . but we had those for dessert. :)
After the sisters left, a few of us started discussing stories that we grew up with, and I found that many stories I remembered came from a book called The Book of Virtues. The Leach's and the Wilson's both seemed to know some of the stories also. We found the book in the Leach's library and I read two stories out of it outloud. By the time I made it through the first one, St. George and the Dragon, the entirety of both families had gathered in the dining room/living room and were listening. After that tale, I also read How Much Land Does a Man Need?, which I was shocked to discover was written by Leo Tolstoy. We will definitely have to read more out of that book before I leave. :-D
Mafia, Hearts, and Dutch Blitz filled out the rest of the night, and now I think it's time for bed. Good night, all! :-D
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